NAACP Selects Minister, Former Lawyer, As New President

Cornell William Brooks at the 2013 New Jersey Institute for Social Justice gala.

NJISJ

Originally published on May 17, 2014 10:21 am

The board of directors for the NAACP announced it has selected Cornell William Brooks as its new president and CEO.

"Mr. Brooks is a pioneering lawyer and civil rights leader, who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Association," Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors, said in a statement. "We look forward to leveraging his legal prowess, vision and leadership as we tackle the pressing civil rights issues of the 21st century."

Brooks is a fourth-generation ordained minister and formerly worked as a lawyer for the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. In 1998, he ran for Congress in Virginia.

Brooks is replacing interim chief Lorraine Miller, who has been the caretaker since Benjamin Jealous ended his five-year term last year.

"In our fight to ensure voting rights, economic equality, health equity, and an end to racial discrimination for all people, there is much work to do," Brooks said in a statement. "I look forward to working with the dynamic board and staff, and continuing the important work of the Association in advancing racial and social justice and equality for all."

Brooks will be formally announced as the NAACP's CEO at the organization's July gathering in Las Vegas.